Topic starter
22/12/2006 1:29 am
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22/12/2006 11:12 pm
Pete,
Seems like the Army Corps would have this data, but I have never seen a nationwide map. I'm guessing there must be thousands small rivers in the U.S. that would be considered navigable. Maybe the Army Corps have a roster that lists all that info(?).
A while back I was curious about the navigability of the Tippecanoe River in Indiana, and found a roster of navigable Indiana waterways published by IDNR. I can't find that list again, but Indiana DOT has a list now:
http://www.in.gov/dot/pdf/waterway/AppendixO-IDNRNavigableWaterwaysRoster.pdf
23/12/2006 9:04 pm
What is the IN DOT definition of "navigable"? Nine-feet is what we expect from the Corp on the major streams.
23/12/2006 9:23 pm
Haha.. I'm not sure about that. Maybe they mean any stream you don't have to portage a canoe!
Pete, what kind of navigable waterways are you searching for?
Topic starter
23/12/2006 9:39 pm
Steve, the reason I ask, in my "explorations" of various "headwaters" here in Wisconsin...the Rock River, along with the Wisconsin River are considered "not navigable" if that's the correct term...
Being a "map freak" of sorts, I was curious if such information was out there...the CofE is an obvious source which I totally blanked on.
24/12/2006 2:16 pm
Legally "Navigable" for commerce (i.e. carrying passengers for hire) and practically "Navigable" are quite different animals. Congress has the authority to determine "Navigable"------why is the River area of the Chippewa Falls considered "Non Navigable" a very busy passenger carrying area as I understand----could this maybe be from political clout?
26/12/2006 9:57 am
The State of Mississippi defines a navigable stream as one which can sustain a 300 bale steamboat. I was once contacted by an attorney for a gambling boat who wanted to know what a 300 bale boat is. It seems that the State of Mississippi confines the operations of gambling boats to navigable streams, hence the question. The river in question was the Big Black. I do not know if the casino was ever built.
28/12/2006 3:07 pm
Ask the Coast Guard what is navigable. Where we are on Caddo Lake is still considered navigable because it was (note WAS) navigable commercially in the 1800's. There is now a dam at the lower end of Caddo Lake and thus it should be reclassified as non-navigable, but that would take an act of Congress. The Cane River at Natchitoches, La., is also considered navigable due to steamboat traffic 100+ years ago. It is also now impounded by a dam and is about 3 ft. deep. This scenario could probably be played out in many other waterways, including every skinny little river in Texas, due to historic navigation. However, most of the large man-made lakes in Texas that are on these rivers are not considered Coast Guard navigable waters, and the excursion boats on these lakes do not have to worry about Coast Guard inspections. Go figure. So ask the Coast Guard what is "officially" navigable. They know. I guarantee, they know.